06-07-2018, 01:53 PM
https://www.autosport.com/f1/news/137238...y-for-2019
European Formula 3 title challenger Dan Ticktum is a contender for a Toro Rosso Formula 1 drive next season as a replacement for Brendon Hartley.
Ticktum, the 2017 Macau Grand Prix winner, is currently second in Euro F3, one point behind championship leader Marcus Armstrong and is in the frame to partner Pierre Gasly at Red Bull's junior team in 2019.
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has identified McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Ticktum as its junior driver who would be ready for an F1 drive in 2019.
"At the end of the season, yes," Marko told Autosport.
"At the Norisring, someone drives into him from the back, he goes to the hospital, says he wants to go out again - and wins the race afterwards!
"He's fast. Crazy, but fast. It fits us. He is only one point behind and had two technical defects.
"We're looking for the fastest. If they're characters, it fits, but someone doesn't have to be this crazy for us.
"We have now normalised Ticktum to some extent."
Hartley has been under pressure after a tricky start to 2018, with McLaren junior Lando Norris approached as a possible mid-season replacement, but Marko said the plan is for Hartley to complete the season.
His future beyond that is uncertain, with Ticktum the best-placed alternative given his fellow Red Bull juniors are only at Formula Renault and Formula 4 level.
Red Bull kept faith in Ticktum despite his ban for 2016 for a crash under a safety car in an MSA Formula race at Silverstone the previous year, and made him a fully-fledged part of its junior programme for 2017.
Another Brit, yes please.
European Formula 3 title challenger Dan Ticktum is a contender for a Toro Rosso Formula 1 drive next season as a replacement for Brendon Hartley.
Ticktum, the 2017 Macau Grand Prix winner, is currently second in Euro F3, one point behind championship leader Marcus Armstrong and is in the frame to partner Pierre Gasly at Red Bull's junior team in 2019.
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has identified McLaren Autosport BRDC Award winner Ticktum as its junior driver who would be ready for an F1 drive in 2019.
"At the end of the season, yes," Marko told Autosport.
"At the Norisring, someone drives into him from the back, he goes to the hospital, says he wants to go out again - and wins the race afterwards!
"He's fast. Crazy, but fast. It fits us. He is only one point behind and had two technical defects.
"We're looking for the fastest. If they're characters, it fits, but someone doesn't have to be this crazy for us.
"We have now normalised Ticktum to some extent."
Hartley has been under pressure after a tricky start to 2018, with McLaren junior Lando Norris approached as a possible mid-season replacement, but Marko said the plan is for Hartley to complete the season.
His future beyond that is uncertain, with Ticktum the best-placed alternative given his fellow Red Bull juniors are only at Formula Renault and Formula 4 level.
Red Bull kept faith in Ticktum despite his ban for 2016 for a crash under a safety car in an MSA Formula race at Silverstone the previous year, and made him a fully-fledged part of its junior programme for 2017.
Another Brit, yes please.
"When a man holds you round the throat, I don't think he has come to apologise"
Ayrton Senna on Nigel Mansell, SPA 1987.
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